Back to the Start
by cantstopmenow-s
Summary: Regina and Emma have been happily married for five years with two children. What will happen when Emma and Henry get in an accident and Emma loses her memory of the last seven years. Will she fall in love with Regina all over again? Or will the memories she has of the brunette keep her away for good? SWANQUEEN Disclaimer: I do not own ONCE or its characters.
1. Chapter 1

Emma slowly fluttered her eyes open and was greeted by the beautiful sight in front of her. She smiled as she saw her wife sleeping peacefully in her arms. Her brunette hair sprawled across the pillow and her arm wrapped tightly around Emma's waist. Her head was snuggled into Emma's chest while her warm breath softly tickled the blonde's skin.

Emma brought her hand up and gently started stroking Regina's cheek. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to wake up to this woman every day. About seven years ago, if you told Emma she would be married to Regina with two amazing children she would have laughed in your face and ran the other way, but now? She wouldn't trade what she had for anything in the world. She knew that this is what she had always wanted, what she had always dreamed of and she couldn't be happier. She leaned down and softly placed a kiss on the top of Regina's head.

It has been seven years since the curse broke, seven years since her life had changed forever. It has been five years since she married her True Love and four years since a new, very adorable baby boy was added to their family.

Emma breaks into a smile when she hears her wife let out a little snore in her sleep. She never thought the big, bad mayor would be this cute and lovable when she met her. Boy was she wrong.

 _Regina,_ she was certainly the best thing that has ever happened to Emma besides her two children. Regina has changed the most out of anyone in this town. After Regina was accused of killing Archie everyone thought she would go back to being the Evil Queen. She surprised everyone by doing the exact opposite.

Emma was startled out of her thoughts by a hoarse voice.

"You know, it's not polite to stare," Regina whispered as she slowly opened her eyes to gaze at Emma. Emma beamed at the brown eyes staring back at her. She quickly leaned down to press her lips to the brunette's nose.

"How did you even know I was staring? Your eyes never opened," Emma scrunched her eyebrows and studied Regina's face.

"I would tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Regina said as she wrapped her arm even further around Emma's waist. She snuggled her head even further into Emma's neck and the blonde shivered feeling the warm breath gliding softly over her bare chest.

"Good morning baby," Emma said sweetly, she untangled Regina's arm from around her waist. Regina looked up with a frown. "Oh relax, I just want a good morning kiss." She leaned down ready to place her lips against Regina's when the brunette pulled away. It was Emma's turn to frown.

" _Oh relax_ ," Regina mocked with a chuckle, "It seems we have a visitor." Regina shifted her eyes towards the door with a smile. Emma followed her gaze and saw tiny fingers wrapped around the edge of the door pushing it open. They quickly made sure the covers were pulled over there naked bodies before seeing the pair of bright blue/green eyes staring back at them. Once the little boy saw the two woman were awake he slammed the door open. He looked between his mothers with an excited smile before seeing the soft glare on Regina's face. He knew he shouldn't have slammed the door open, but he was just so excited for the day ahead.

He looked down at the ground sheepishly mumbling, "Oops." He chanced a glance back at his brunette mother and saw her staring at him with a warm smile. He quickly ran over to the bed.

"Mommies!" He shouted as he climbed up the bed and made himself comfy between his mothers. They both looked at him warmly before looking at each other.

"Hi sweetheart," Regina sang leaning down to kiss his cheek. He quickly used his hand to wipe away her sloppy kiss. "Mommy, gross!" The two women laughed at his adorable reaction. 

"Hi baby," Emma beamed at him. She wrapped one arm around him, using the other to hold the blanket to her chest. "What are you doing up so early?" Emma quickly ruffled his hair and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mama! You know what day is today," he said pointing at his other mother like she should obviously know the answer. "It's mommy's day!" He turned to Regina and tackled her on the bed in a hug. Regina wrapped her arms around him and peppered kisses all over his face. Emma started to tickle him as Regina finished with her kisses. This was a routine every Friday. He would come running in the room to wake them up, usually jumping on them and screaming excitedly that is was mommy's day. "Mommy's day" has been happening for over a year and he never got tired of it.

During the twenty-eight years of the curse, Regina found that riding horses and stealing hearts weren't her only passions. She discovered music. She began teaching herself to play various instruments, but her favorite two would always be the piano and the guitar. She would play for hours every day trying to put all of her frustrations and anguish into the music she was playing. She realized she had a nice voice seventeen years ago when she adopted Henry. She would spend hours rocking him to sleep singing him every lullaby she could remember. She never told anyone about her talent, not even Henry. It wasn't until she started dating Emma that she realized she didn't want to keep this huge part of herself a secret any longer.

Once Emma heard her voice she couldn't get enough. She would make Regina play a song for her at least once every day. Music became the way that Regina would express herself to Emma and they became so much stronger because of it. A few years after they were married, Emma pushed Regina to go public with her music and no matter how many times they fought about it Regina just wouldn't budge. It wasn't until their sons gave her the puppy dog eyes and begged her to do it that she finally caved. She told them she would do one show and that it was all they were getting. Emma set the whole thing up at Granny's. The whole town had shown up and Regina was so embarrassed and nervous that she almost didn't go on stage. She was so afraid that something she was so proud of would be ripped from her because of the rejection she knew she would get from the crowd.

Once on stage, she played and sang her heart out. She kept her eyes trained on her family through the whole performance and once her song was over she closed her eyes and waited to hear the insults. They never came. Her family started to cheer for her and soon the whole audience was screaming her name and clapping their hands. No one could believe it, they had never heard anything like that before and they wanted more.

Ever since that night Granny and Ruby begged Regina to play at the diner. Regina wanted to say no, she really did, but she couldn't deny the rush she got from hearing everyone cheer for her. She couldn't deny how good it felt to know that everyone accepted her that night, so she agreed.

It had been a year since then and she had been singing there ever since. Her family came and supported her every Friday and no matter how nervous she got she knew she could find comfort in Emma's eyes staring back at her.

Regina looked on at her wife and son as they kept tickling each other and knew that it would be another great day. "Mommy…" he son choked out, "help." His loud giggles echoed throughout the room as Emma kept working her slender fingers against his stomach.

"Say it," Emma said laughing, "Say that I am the best mommy," Emma looked at Regina as she said this and burst out laughing at the offended look on Regina's face. She stopped tickling her son and wiped at her eyes which were now damp from laughing so hard.

"Never!" Ryan screamed and looked to Regina who was wearing a proud smile on her face, "Mommy let's get her!" Both Regina and Ryan pounced on Emma and began their tickle attack.

"What is happening in here?" A deep voice said from the doorway. Emma looked at the door with a relieved smile. Turning to her two attackers she gave a cocky smile, "Oh now you are really going to get it," Emma said as she gave her oldest son a wink. He smirked back at her and ran over to the bed wrapping his arms around his younger brother. He picked up Ryan and wrapped him in a bear hug as the boy kept giggling.

"Henry!" He screamed as he tried and failed to wiggle out of his brother's strong arms. Emma and Regina looked at them with love in their eyes. Regina leaned in to finally give Emma her good morning kiss. Regina slowly pressed her lips against Emma's. Emma wrapped her hand around Regina's neck and brought them even closer together. They both got so lost in what was supposed to be a quick kiss that they jumped apart after hearing, "EW!" from their younger son.

"Mommies are kissing," he yelled as he reached to cover his eyes. The three older members of the family just laughed and smiled at the four year old. Henry carefully put Ryan down on the bed before noticing his mother's still clinging to their bed sheets. He scrunched his nose up in disgust, not wanting to imagine what they were doing last night, and muttered "Gross." He picked his little brother up once more and swung him over his shoulder. Ryan screeched in excitement. Henry turned over his shoulder and said, "Let's leave mommy and mama alone so they can get ready to make us a yummy breakfast," he turned back to his mother's with a pointed look, "hopefully with their clothes on." With that he turned and carried his brother out of the room and down the stairs leaving Regina and Emma looking at each other sheepishly. After a few moments of silence Emma shrugged her shoulders and tackled Regina into a hug.

"You are going to get us in trouble," Regina said as she hugged Emma tighter, "We keep falling asleep before we put our clothes back on!" She looked at Emma pointedly as if saying this was her fault.

Emma chuckled, "Hey! It's not my fault we tire each other out. If you wake up naked you should feel honored." She looked at Regina with a cocky grin and earned an eye roll from the brunette.

"Just keep telling yourself that dear," Regina got up from the bed and was almost to the master bathroom before turning around and saying, "Did you ever think that I close my eyes and try to fall asleep just so I don't have to deal with you anymore?" It was the older woman's turn to smirk. Emma narrowed her eyes at the brunette before jumping up and chasing after her. Regina gasped not expecting her wife to get up and quickly made her way into the bathroom. She locked the door before the blonde could reach her.

"Oh you are so gonna get it," Emma grumbled through the door. Regina, who was still leaning against the other side of the door, chuckled and started her daily routine.

Emma smiled to herself before getting dressed in her usual skinny jeans and a nice blouse. She knocked on the bathroom door and waited. She heard the lock click on the door knob signaling that Regina unlocked it and made her way into the bathroom. Noticing Regina was now in a black laced bra and panties she frowned. Regina noticed, "Do I look that bad" she said slightly offended. Emma quickly smiled and shook her head.

"Of course not my love," she wrapped her arms around Regina and held her for a few moments before leaning into Regina's ear. "I just like you better naked," she husked. Regina shivered involuntarily and sighed to herself knowing that Emma noticed the reaction she had on her. She stepped back and looked at Emma, sure enough, the blonde was wearing the same cocky grin she was before.

"Shut up," Regina muttered and tried to finish getting ready. Emma only chuckled before doing the same thing. Emma was a lot quicker at getting ready for the day than Regina so she softly kissed her wife's cheek and made her way out of the bathroom.

"I'll start breakfast," Emma said as she left. She paused outside the door knowing that what she said would get a reaction out of her wife.

"Don't you dare, I don't want our house set on fire. You _know_ the only thing you are allowed to make is cereal," Emma heard her laughing through the door and smiled widely. She loved that woman. Emma made her way downstairs to join their sons.

Henry and Ryan were sitting on the couch in the living room watching cartoons. They were both dressed. Emma assumed Henry helped his little brother because he wasn't wearing one of the twenty costumes he "puppy-dog eyed" his way into getting. Emma smiled at them, Henry had his arm wrapped around the little boy and Ryan was curled into his side. They were inseparable. Emma stayed like that for a few minutes just watching her boys talk about which superhero would win in a fight before she felt a pair of slender arms wrap around her waist. She leaned into Regina, never taking her eyes away from their boys.

"How did I get so lucky?" Regina said in awe of her family. Emma turned in Regina's arms and smiled, "You three are the best thing to ever happen to me, I am the lucky one."

Regina pulled away and smiled, "Watch dear, you are starting to sound like your mother." Emma stuck out her tongue, the same way her little boy did earlier, and grabbed Regina's hand to start breakfast.

The family of four sat around the dining room table eating their food. The conversation flowed easily between the four and was full of laughs and teasing. Before long it was time to start the day. Henry and Emma always left before the other two. It was their daily routine, Henry got his school bag ready while Emma went to their safe and grabbed her gun and badge. She didn't leave it lying around in the house, especially with her two children around. She reached in the closet and grabbed her red leather jacket before putting it over her shoulders. Regina and Ryan walked them to the door telling them to have a great day. Ryan and Henry always did their secret handshake which consisted of a bunch of hand movements that always seemed to be changing. During that time Regina said her own goodbye to her wife.

"I love you, be careful out there okay? And I will see you later?" Regina asked hopefully. Usually on Friday's she would meet Emma at the diner before her show. They would make out like teenagers in the bathroom before she went on stage. Regina had called Emma her "groupie" once and all Emma could do was smile and agree.

"Babe, you know I am always careful. I chase a damn dog most of my shift, not much can happen with that. And I love you, you know I wouldn't miss tonight for the world. Seeing you on that stage is a dream come true for me." Emma looked down shyly, she hated being all sappy. Regina brought that part out of her the most. She loved the look Regina got when she realized how loved she truly was. Emma looked up and was met with watery eyes. Regina cleared her throat and laughed to herself hating the affect Emma had on her.

"I love you," Regina said again. Emma gave her one of her award-winning smiles before kissing her soundly on the lips. They always kissed each other like it was the last time. This time was no different, Regina moved even closer to Emma with their lips still connected. She wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and reveled in the feeling of Emma's lips on hers. A throat clearing made them separate. They looked over to their sons and saw them both with disgusted looks on their faces though it was clear they were fighting smiles. Regina moved to kiss Henry on the cheek before saying goodbye to the pair. She took Ryan's hand and they made their way inside.

Emma and Henry raced to the car, now that Henry could drive he always wanted to. Emma raced him to the driver's side door and they both kept pushing each other out of the way as they fought for the door handle. Henry gave one last shove before he reached the door. "HA! I win!" he shouted. He stuck his tongue out at Emma before getting into the driver's seat. Emma rolled her eyes before dragging herself to the passenger side.

"Be lucky I let you drive my precious bug, few have had the opportunity," she huffed as she crossed her arms. Henry looked over at her as he started the car.

"Mom was right about you," he chuckled as he pulled away from the curb.

Emma looked at her son with narrowed eyes, "And what does that mean?" Henry pulled up to the stop light at the end of the street before turning to his mother.

"Oh, you know, just that you act like a child." Henry laughed as the light turned green. Emma huffed in her seat, "Henry I do n- Henry watch out!" He heard his mother scream before seeing the car coming straight at them. He didn't have time to move before the car slammed into his mother's side of the car knocking them both unconscious.

Regina and Ryan just made their way inside before she picked up her son while singing and dancing with him. She loved to hear him sing with his cute, squeaky voice. They swayed back and forth while they sang one of his favorite songs, "You are my sunshine."

" _You are my sunshine,_

 _My only sunshine,_

 _You make me happy when skies are grey_

 _You never know dear,_

 _How much I love you_

 _Please don't take my sunshine away"_

They continued dancing around the foyer arms wrapped around each other before they heard a loud crash. Regina's blood ran cold and she felt her heart start racing.

"Mommy, what was that?" Her little boy whispered. Regina set him down on the ground and bent down to his level. "I don't know sweetheart, I'm going to go check, why don't you go watch the rest of your cartoon while mommy goes outside." He smiled up at her and nodded while running into the living room.

Regina took a deep breath and turned to walk out the door. She couldn't see anything from the porch so she walked towards the sidewalk. What she saw next made her heart stop. She felt the tears well in her eyes as she saw a car smashed into the side of Emma's precious yellow bug. She took off in a sprint towards the end of the street before stopping in front of the collision. She saw the faces of Emma and Henry before muttering, "No..."


	2. Chapter 2

Regina was frozen in front of the collision looking at the bloodied faces of her family. Her eyes kept shifting between them and the point of impact. Suddenly, she heard a sharp intake of breath and her eyes shot towards her family. She saw Henry start to flutter his eyes open and she made a mad dash for his side of the car. She knew that if she were to get either one of them out, it would have to be from the driver side. She stuck her head in the shattered window and quickly assessed her son. His eyes were struggling to stay open. "Mom…" he muttered quietly. If she weren't leaning over him she wouldn't have heard it.

"Hi baby, I'm right here okay? Don't move, I don't know if you're hurt." She slowly opened his door and he slumped in her arms. She quickly wrapped her arms around him, catching him before he hit the ground. "It's okay, I've got you." She kept chanting to him as she tried to get him out of the car. She kept glancing over at her wife and she shouted, "Emma! You need to open your eyes baby, open them for me, please!" Her wife never moved. "Help!" Regina screamed, hoping someone would come out of their houses. "Please, someone call an ambulance," she shouted, her voice cracking at the end as she tried to hold in her sobs. She turned to focus on her son.

She slowly got Henry to the ground and set him gently next to the car. He wasn't as little as he used to be and she was struggling by herself. "Mom…" he muttered again, "I'm sorry." Her eyes became foggy with the tears she was trying to keep in.

"Sweetheart, this was not your fault, I need to check on your mom okay? Does anything hurt?" Her eyes scanned his whole body and except for a cut on his face, where she assumed his head collided with his window, he seemed to be okay. "I'm fine, just my head and my arm," when he said that Regina looked down and saw him holding his arm in place. She brought her hand up to his cheek and gave him a sad smile before turning to go back to the car.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw another car coming down the intersection. "David," she screamed, recognizing the police cruiser heading their way. She jumped up and down waving her arms. He saw her and quickly drove to the scene. He jumped out of his vehicle as fast as possible. "What happened?" He didn't even wait for an answer before getting his cellphone out and calling for an ambulance. Regina took that time to get back in the car and look at Emma. She brought her hand up to the blonde's face.

"Emma, sweetheart, please wake up!" She unhooked Emma's seatbelt and the blonde fell against her chest. She put her fingers to Emma's neck checking for a pulse. She closed her eyes in relief when she felt a faint drumming against her finger tips. "She's alive," Regina screamed to David. She held Emma tightly to her hoping that the ambulance would get here as soon as possible. She stroked her fingers through Emma's hair trying to calm herself down. She felt a wet, sticky substance on the side of Emma's head and brought her fingers up into her view, they were covered in blood. "Oh God," she muttered. She looked over the rest of Emma and noticed a part of the door was sticking into her side right below her breast. "David!" she shrieked, "We need to get her out of here now!"

David was in the process of checking on the driver from the other vehicle when he heard Regina scream. He checked to see if the man driving was still alive, but he couldn't feel a pulse. He decided to focus on his family and ran back to the driver's side of the bug. "The ambulance is on its way, is she awake?" He didn't need to hear an answer, the look Regina gave him was enough. He turned back to Henry on the ground who was still clutching his arm.

"You okay, bud?" he asked, leaning down trying to assess his grandson. Henry could only nod, never taking his eyes away from his mothers.

"David, I need you to call Snow or Ruby. Ryan is still watching cartoons in the house, we can't let him see this." David nodded, he couldn't imagine what the little boy would do if he saw his family like this. He ran back to his car getting his phone and made a call to Snow. He gave her the minimum details necessary knowing that if he said anything more he would never get off the phone. He hung up just as two ambulances were racing to the scene. David moved next to Henry helping him up off the ground so that the paramedics could get to Emma right away.

A young, blonde paramedic jumped out of the vehicle as it skidded to a halt in front of Emma's bug. She ran to the driver's side door and tried to get to Emma, but Regina wouldn't budge. "I am not leaving her," Regina held Emma even tighter hoping that she would wake up and tell her that everything was okay. "Mayor Mills, I can't help her if you won't let her go." Regina just squeezed tighter, she felt that if she let go she would lose Emma forever. She placed a shaky kiss to the top of her wife's head before exiting the vehicle.

She turned and saw her son with tears streaming down his face. He reached for her and they clung to each other. Their gazes never faltered from the unconscious blonde in her yellow bug. Regina couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't lose Emma, the blonde was her world. She felt the life slowly being drained out of her the longer Emma remained unconscious. She couldn't function without Emma.

Everything happened so fast. Firefighters soon arrived at the scene using the jaws-of-life to remove Emma from the car. The paramedics moved fast, putting pressure on the bloodied wounds of the blonde and placing her neck in a brace so that she couldn't move. They strapped her down to a board before putting her in the back of an ambulance. The older woman noticed that part of the door was still stuck into Emma's side and she shuttered. As the ambulance was getting ready to leave Regina and Henry both hopped in with the blonde. Regina and David wanted Henry to go in his own so he could get checked out, but he wouldn't leave Emma's side. Rather than argue and waste time they simply nodded and followed the blonde paramedic. David decided to stay back to wait with Ryan until Snow showed up. The ambulance took off with sirens blaring.

Regina and Henry watched as the paramedic tried to treat Emma. They clasped their hands together and Regina looked at his arm. "You know you are just as stubborn as she is, right?" Regina said nudging his good arm. He looked at his blonde mother and smiled softly. The smile was quickly wiped from his face when he realized that this was no time to be joking around. Regina noticed, "This is not your fault." She tried to get him to look at her, but he wouldn't budge. They remained silent the rest of the way.

Once at the hospital, Emma was immediately taken into the room Henry was in when she accidently poisoned him. The nurses were working frantically trying to stop the bleeding and yelled for Regina to leave the room. She wouldn't budge. Henry finally grabbed her hand and brought her out of the room. They were looking through the glass from outside the room when Regina saw Dr. Whale out of the corner of her eye. She ran to meet him. "Please save her," Regina pleaded, her emotions finally starting to catch up with her. Whale put a hand on her arm and squeezed. "I will do everything I can, go wait in the waiting room and I will see you shortly, okay?" Whale looked at her with nothing, but sympathy.

All of a sudden, all hell broke loose. A nurse ran out of the room calling code blue. He gave her a look that he hoped was reassuring and turned to run to Emma. Regina took off in a sprint towards the room her wife was in. Henry wrapped his good arm around her waist and held her back. "NO! I need her!" She was trying to break free of his grasp and Henry only held on tighter. "Emma!" She kept screaming Emma's name from her place in the hallway. Henry turned her around so she couldn't look in the room.

Regina felt her legs collapse beneath her and she finally let the tears fall. "I can't lose her," Regina gasped between her tears, "I… I… can't." Henry wrapped his arms around her as she continued to sob. Henry's heart clenched as he watched his mother fall apart in his arms. They were both on the ground with crying into each other's arms when they saw Dr. Whale straddling Emma's waist giving her chest compressions as the nurses ran the hospital bed into, what Regina was assuming, an operating room. Regina couldn't believe this was happening. The stayed like that for at least ten minutes as Regina's sobs quieted down. She clawed at Henry holding him even tighter when she felt him wince beneath her. She suddenly looked up and then started crying even harder. "Henry, I am so sorry! We need to get you checked out." She quickly stood up and pulled his good arm with her. She tried to drag him back to the emergency room, but he wouldn't budge.

"Mom, take a deep breath," he looked into her eyes and she saw how strong he was trying to be. She nodded gratefully and took a deep breath. After she was done she grabbed his hand and led him back to the emergency room.

The nurse had finished cleaning and bandaging Henry's head and wheeled him down to the radiology center. Regina was with Henry every step of the way, but she kept sticking her head out of the door to check for Dr. Whale. When Henry was taken to get x-rays, Regina made her way to the waiting room. When she got there she saw David and Snow waiting for her. David had his arms around Snow as she cried into his chest. He had just finished telling her everything that had happened and she was a complete mess. When David saw Regina the first thing he said was, "Don't worry, Ryan and Neal are with Ruby." She nodded slowly and saw Snow turn to look at her. When they saw each other they both burst into tears. They reached for each other and their sobs drowning out the quiet waiting room. They had gotten extremely close ever since Regina and Emma had started dating. They were more like best friends than mother and daughter-in-law. "I'm so sorry," Regina whispered into Snow's shoulder. Snow immediately grabbed Regina's shoulders and pushed her to arms-length so she could look at her.

"Regina, you weren't even there when it happened," Snow looked at her like she was crazy for even _thinking_ of blaming herself. Snow brought her back into a hug and they stayed like that for a few minutes. David sat in his chair with his head in his hands. He needed his daughter, he needed his family all together.

Snow and Regina broke the hug and sat next to David. They sat there in silence, each with silent tears cascading down their faces. Henry came back to the waiting area after an hour. He was now wearing a light blue cast over his forearm. He sat down next to his mom and she grabbed his good hand. He was like an anchor keeping her grounded. He looked down at his mom and pointed to his cast, "its Ryan's favorite color," he said pointing to his new accessary. She gave him a small smile before realizing she had to explain all of this to her younger son.

"How am I supposed to explain to Ryan what happened? What if Emma doesn't make it? How am I supposed to tell him he lost his mother? How am I supposed to tell him she is gone?" Regina kept raising her voice with every question, she felt a fresh set of tears coming to her face. She raised her hand to her wipe the tears and noticed that Emma's dry blood was still coating her hand. She quickly got up and ran. Snow was yelling her name to come back but Regina never listened. She ran straight to the bathroom. Once she looked at herself in the mirror she broke down crying again. She was covered in Emma's dry blood. Her grey dress now had splotches of deep red and her tears increased knowing that it was Emma's. She jumped when she felt a hand on her arm and she turned to be met with Snow. Snow turned on the sink faucet and moved Regina's hands under the water. Regina just stood there staring at the blood on her clothes. Snow put soap on her hands and moved them over Regina's trying to get all of the blood off.

Once Snow felt she got the job done she turned off the sink and brought Regina over by the paper towels. Snow had never seen Regina like this, not even for Daniel. She didn't know what would happen if her daughter didn't make it. She mentally chastised herself for even thinking such a thing. Once Regina's hands were clean, Snow brought her hand up to Regina's chin and slowly lifted her head so the older woman would look at her.

"I talked to Kathryn, she said she is going to bring you and Henry a change of clothes. I told her to bring you something comfy, not the tight dresses you manage to squeeze yourself into," Regina gave a small smile at that. Kathryn was Regina's best friend, after the curse broke they realized that they actually got along when they were being themselves. They both had the same dry sense of humor and they realized that they didn't have a lot of friends in fairytale land and so they decided to make the most of it. Kathryn was Regina's maid of honor at her wedding and knowing that Kathryn would be coming soon made Regina relax a little more.

"She will be okay, Regina, she is Emma for crying out loud. When has she ever been able to stay away from you for long?" Regina's smile was even bigger after that, Snow noticed that it still didn't reach her eyes though. She knew that until Emma was awake and okay that Regina wouldn't be smiling very much.

Snow grabbed Regina's, now clean, hand and led them back to the waiting room.

The hours had slowly ticked by waiting to hear about Emma's condition. Kathryn had shown up a few minutes after Snow and Regina came back from the bathroom. Once Kathryn and Regina let go from the hug, Henry and his mother went to go get changed. Regina was now wearing a pair of yoga pants and, thanks to Kathryn's smart thinking, one of Emma's t-shirts. Ruby came after a little while. She told the concerned parents of the little boys she was watching that Granny had decided to watch the boys so that Ruby could be with her best friends. The six of them sat in the waiting room in silence. Every time someone would walk by everyone's attention went to the door before slumping back in their seats.

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, Dr. Whale walked into the waiting room. Six sets of eyes met his and they all jumped out of their chairs asking a million questions at once.

"How is she?"

"Where is my mom?"

"Is she okay?"

"Is she alive?"

"Whale don't just stand there! Say something!"

Dr. Whale gave them all a look saying he was waiting for everyone to finish. The only one who didn't say anything, he noticed, was Regina. He studied her and saw she was clutching her son's hand in hers. "Are you all finished?" He asked sarcastically to the five people shouting at him. If looks could kill he would have had six separate deaths today. He quickly stepped back and cleared his throat before giving his speech.

"There were a lot of complications with the surgery. Before we even got her into surgery her heart stopped beating. We were able to bring her back, but she had went into another cardiac arrest during the procedure." He looked up and was met with six sets of teary eyes. He saw Regina close her eyes briefly like she was trying to hold it all together and when she opened them he felt it was time he continued.

"That being said, she had lost a lot of blood. The car door pierced her lung and we had to go in and stitch it up. We finally got the bleeding to stop and we gave her a blood transfusion. As of now, Emma is critical. We have her placed in ICU to keep a close eye on her and make sure her vitals remain where they should be. Emma has severe head trauma, her brain had started to swell and right now we need to keep her in a coma to make sure that her brain heals properly. You need to be aware that this is a voluntary medically-induced coma, she will wake up when she is ready. As far as any side effects of the accident goes and considering the head trauma, well I can't be cer—" He was cut off by Snow White.

"What do you mean you can't be certain? Will my daughter be okay or not?" Six pairs of wide eyes turned to Snow as her anger flared. So far she hadn't heard a lot of good news and knowing that her daughter had physically died twice wasn't helping to calm her either. She felt two hands on either side of her and looked to see Ruby and David staring at her with understanding. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. When she was satisfied she tried again, "What can't you be certain about?"

Dr. Whale looked like Ryan when he was caught sneaking downstairs to watch cartoons after bed time. He took another step back and continued, "I'm saying that because of her head trauma she could have some lasting damage, but we can't know anything for certain until she wakes up. Right now, I would prefer if only two people visit with her at a time. If you have any other questions you know where to find me." With that, Dr. Whale turned and let the room. The six people remaining all watched him go.

So many emotions ran through their faces the main two being fear and relief. Fear of what was to come and relief at knowing that for now, Emma was stable. David and Snow looked at each other and quickly shared an embrace. Henry looked to his mom, she had remained quiet throughout all of Whale's speech and he didn't know what was going through her head. She turned to look at him with tears pouring out of her eyes. Regina softly squeezed his hand before quietly apologizing and running from the room. She didn't pay attention to the sad look in Henry's eyes and she didn't listen to the people shouting for her to come back, she just ran.

 **A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! I'm going to try and update again soon. Thank you for all of the reviews. Please let me know what you think! I love the feedback! I'm not set in stone where I am taking this story so if you have any ideas or suggestions I am more than happy to listen, just leave a comment!(:**


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